Phoenix Store cashiers get conditional discharges for stealing

Two Phoenix Store cashiers who stole $239 from their employer were given a conditional discharge in Magistrates' Court.

Dena Swan, 22, and Mandisa Smith, 19, were caught when their bags were searched by security staff as they left work on April 28.

Both employees were seen leaving with Phoenix shopping bags, containing a number of items. When asked to produce a receipt, they could not provide one.

They were arrested and in separate video interviews with Police admitted their part in the offence.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo said yesterday: "I hope you both learnt from your lessons and at least you could say 'I am sorry'".

Ms Swan declined to comment, but Ms Smith said: "I can say that I have learnt my lesson and I will not do it again."

Both women pleaded guilty to theft. Swan, from Rockland Crescent in Warwick, also admitted to falsifying transactions on the cash registers.

Smith, from South Road in Paget, admitted she concurred with the crime.

Some items that went through the registers were voided, and others were not entered.

Both have since been fired from the Phoenix Store, located on Reid Street in Hamilton.

Mr. Tokunbo gave both women a 12 month conditional discharge and urged them not to commit any further offences.

He said: "You don't have a conviction at this time so I am not going to convict you and leave your record intact but if you breach this you will have a conviction."

Events will celebrate emancipation

This year, Bermuda will celebrate emancipation with theatre, film and lectures.

Between July 18 and August 31, the Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation will be hosting several events to pay tribute to this important moment in Bermuda history.

Yesterday the Heritage Productions was due to hold the 6th Annual Emancipation Awards Luncheon at the Upper level of the Bermuda Industrial Union.

On July 22, a dramatic presentation called "Stairway to Freedom" will be staged at Manchester Unity Hall.

The performance, organised by the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs and the Bermuda Friendly Society, will start at 7 p.m., but it will be preceded by a train tour of North Hamilton, which starts at 6 p.m. on Pitts Bay Road.

Liberty Theatre will be screening "500 Years Later," a film by Owen Alik Shahadah, at 5.30 p.m. on July 27.

Following the film, there will be a panel discussion featuring Dr. Quinto Swan, Dr. Llewellyn Simmons and Victoria Pearman.

During both days of Cup Match, there will be a Cup Match Heritage Tent set up next to the Somerset Cricket Club, showcasing information on emancipation.

At 6 p.m. on August 1, a "Service of Praise" will be held at Barr's Bay Park, featuring music, readings, and a dramatic performance by TROIKA.

The celebration ends on August 31 at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute where Dr. Michael Gomez, a professor of History at New York University, will lead a lecture called "Bermuda, Africa, Diaspora: Trilogy of the Journey."

The lecture begins at 7 p.m.

Mirrors launches Coaching for Success programme

Mirrors has launched a new programme designed to make students more successful in school.

One hundred people have joined the Coaching for Success programme, which starts this October at Whitney Institute and Sandys Secondary middle schools.

Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation Neletha Butterfield told the House of Assembly on Friday: "Both middle school principals are exited about the opportunity and look forward to the programme.

"The new programme is designed to engage our young people to make more use of the educational opportunities presented to them by raising their attainment, awareness and educational potential."

Fifty students from each school will complete a three-day training session through the programme, followed by weekly coaching sessions with trained mentors for eight months.

Ms Butterfield said: "This training component has a proven track record in the UK, and we are looking for similar results as we pilot the programme in October 2010 through June 2011."

Mirrors also launched a new recruitment drive for mentors last week. Training sessions will be held in September and October.

"Mirrors is impacting our community by developing human potential," Ms Butterfield added.

"We are working on transforming our community one person at a time."

Man admits threatening to kill grandmother, aunt

A Pembroke man who threatened to kill his relatives told Magistrates' Court he was drunk and didn't remember making the threat.

Troy Robert Harris pleaded guilty to uttering threatening words to his grandmother namely: "I hate you and I am going to kill you and aunt Gail."

The court heard that on Thursday, around 2 p.m., the 41-year-old was playing loud music outside the home he shares with his grandmother, Helen Burrows.

Mrs. Burrows confronted Harris and he began making threats. She became scared for her life and her daughter's life and called Police, said Crown counsel Larissa Burgess.

Harris was then taken to Hamilton Police Station where he was processed and detained.

Yesterday in Magistrates' Court, Harris said: "If my granny said it I do not think she would lie. I would have to plead guilty but I do not remember it. All I say is I apologise. I was intoxicated."

Harris told the court his mother had recently died, and pleaded with Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo to be lenient.

"I just lost my mommy so there is a lot of pain in that. I ask other than going to jail that you put me in a programme or something like that.

"Because me and my granny get along. Me and my auntie get along. I am ready to stop that [drinking].

"Anything from probation to community service I will do all that because really, if I do go jail, it is just going to be a setback."

Mr. Tokunbo adjourned the case until September 3 so pre-sentence reports could be prepared, and released Harris on $2,000 bail.

b>Dog sniffed out drugs in man's underwear

A 26-year-old man caught with three transparent plastic twists in the waistband of his underwear, was handed a $1,000 fine.

Donovan Painter, of Blue Hole Hill in Hamilton Parish pleaded guilty to possessing 3.64 grams of cannabis on March 26.

The court heard that Painter was in the area of Southampton Rangers Sports Club, on Horseshoe Road, when Police conducting random 'stop and search' patrols pulled him over.

Officers said they would be searching him and his vehicle and asked Painter if he had anything illegal in his possession, to which he replied 'no'.

But a drug sniffer canine dog, used in the search, alerted officers to the defendant's pants, where a grey plastic bag wrapped up in his underwear waist was found.

In Magistrates' Court Painter said "I learnt my lesson".

He was given the fine and told he could serve three months in default if he is unable to pay.

Homeless man slept in cabin at resort

A homeless man who admitted sleeping in one of the cabins at 9 Beaches Resort was handed a suspended sentence in Magistrates' Court.

Ahmad Mohammad, 22, pleaded guilty to trespassing on the hotel property. The court heard that Mohammad entered the property around 3.30 a.m. on Wednesday, passing no trespassing signs.

He entered cabin number 22 and went to sleep on the couch, said Crown counsel Takiyah Burgess.

An employee saw the door was open, found Mohammad inside and alerted manager Robin Gilbert who called the Police.

Mohammad told the court: "I am sorry for my offence and sorry to (Mr.) Gilbert. I was tired. I had no place to go because I don't stay with anyone. I do not have a job. I am on my own."

Mohammad told the court he wasn't looking for a job, to which Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner replied: "You don't want to work but you want to walk on people's property and sleep there free? If you are not looking for a job and do not want to work how do you expect to live?"

Mr. Warner sentenced him to three months imprisonment suspended for 24 months. The magistrate added: "If you do not want to work and you do not want to make a living then the place for you is Westgate [Correctional Facility]."